Google Field Trip to Chipotle: 2 new, 3 updated iOS apps to check out

After a brief break from the weekly app roundups, some of you expressed sadness that you couldn't get your weekend app fix. Worry not, as we're back this week with five iOS apps that struck our fancy. Two are brand new to the App Store and three received updates—some with some pretty major features, if you ask us. Whether your thing is urban exploration, comics, group chats, chain-restaurant burritos, or games, we have something for ya:

If you're an iPhone user who has been wanting Google Now-like contextual alerts, this might be the next best thing for now. Field Trip was once limited to just Android, but Google has now released a version for iOS; the app monitors your location in the background and pops up alerts when you are near interesting locales, from famous landmarks to cool bars. Unsurprisingly, Field Trip can also alert you to "deals" being offered by nearby businesses.

Upon launch and logging in with your Google account, Field Trip asks whether you want random notifications or a constant stream of them. You can also customize the sources where the information is coming from depending on your interests. Of course, since the app runs in the background and constantly polls your location, it's likely to also help sap your iPhone's battery. If that's a concern for you, use sparingly.

You may already be familiar with GroupMe due to its group chat and media sharing features. This week, GroupMe updated its iOS and Android apps with two major features: gallery view for photos shared through the app, and the ability for groups to chip in on a single check or bill.

The latter is what interests us the most: you can input the cost of an item or restaurant bill, for example, and attach a photo or location. Members of your group can then "chip in" on the total, and the app itself allows you to actually collect on those contributions once you're ready. Users enter their credit cards and the person who entered the bill can enter his or her bank account in order to deposit the funds. Sure, there are a number of other apps that can do something similar, but if you're already a GroupMe user, it's another way to roll all these functions into a single app for easy reference.

Comic book fans were excited this week when Marvel released a new iOS app that works with its existing Marvel Unlimited service. The app itself is free, but the subscription service costs $10 per month, or $60 per year, and offers a regular supply of newly released comics delivered directly to your devices.

Ars creative director Aurich "Comic Book Guy" Lawson makes a few points about the new Marvel Unlimited app, however. For one, he points out that the selection is good "but not vast," so fans may want to check out whether they're interested in what's available before handing over a credit card. Also, the service is mostly Internet-based; users can download up to six issues for offline reading, but more than that will require an Internet connection. (Marvel Executive Editorial Director Ryan Penagos says they're considering changing the limit sometime in the future.)

I'll be up front on this one: I'm one of those snobs who doesn't really like Chipotle. I don't hate it—I just won't go out of my way to eat there. That said, Chipotle does have some benefits—especially if you're limited on time and it's the only burrito establishment around. Chipotle's app received its first update since 2009 this week, now at version 3.0. So what does the latest version bring us?

Aside from iPhone 5 and iOS 6 support (finally—it's only been half a year), the main reason for the app update is to improve the online ordering experience. Canada, UK, and Paris users benefit the most, since they apparently could not order through the app previously, but US users also get the option to add brown rice (stay in your seats, we know you're excited). You can also now pay via gift card through the app, and there's a new dynamic menu that displays "specific items available by location."

Our friends at Gizmodo have extolled the virtues of the Chipotle app so we don't have to. "It makes ingesting something tasty enjoyable by stripping out the physical and emotional annoyances—lines, waiting, talking to people, touching money—and replacing them with a screen. It's just a burrito app, but it's a burrito app that will make you feel like a Latin American superman, who can summon food with his fingers, knows not the feeling of coinage, and skips to the front of the line. Every app should aim so high." Thank you, Sam Biddle.

No one hasn't heard of Angry Birds—seriously, no one. But the original version of the app is on special for free this week, which is why it earned a bonus inclusion in our writeup. The update released this week only has one major feature update, but it's a big one if you're into the game: 15 new levels. There are still in-app purchases, of course, but if you're an Angry Birds lover (or have children—they never get tired of Angry Birds), then it could still be worth a download to check out the new levels.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui

I'll be up front on this one: I'm one of those snobs who doesn't really like Chipotle. I don't hate it—I just won't go out of my way to eat there.

Vegetarian?

Or she has taste and lives somewhere in America that isn't a wasteland of franchise restaurants. Or she is trying to kill herself slower than the average American. Slam a chicken burrito with sour cream and cheese down your gullet and you just scored yourself over a 1000 calories, assuming you didn't also add any other sides or a drink on top of it. Load it up, put beef in, and grab a side or two and I am pretty sure you can break 2000 calories in one sitting easily.

Maybe I'm just getting old and my metabolism just can't take that kind of shit anymore, but I am always deeply unimpressed when a restaurant makes a meal that tastes good, but has enough calories in to take care of my entire daily need. Good job. You found that humans like fat and carbohydrates even though it literally kills them. Do you want a prize?

Moving on...

I am generally not jealous of Apple stuff. iOS is so far behind Android these days it isn't even funny. That said, I am deeply jealous that Marvel released their Unlimited app to iOS. I got into comic books through Comix, and promptly found myself annoyed at the price to just start plowing through the back catalog. I really want to read all of the X-Men starting from roughly the 80s. I am completely unwilling to drop a few thousand dollars to do it, and so I just stopped and went back to books.

The Marvel Unlimited has been around for a while, but I really want it on my Nexus 7, not on my computer. I hope they get that over to Android ASAP. I will happily throw them my money.

I am generally not jealous of Apple stuff. iOS is so far behind Android these days it isn't even funny. That said, I am deeply jealous that Marvel released their Unlimited app to iOS. I got into comic books through Comix, and promptly found myself annoyed at the price to just start plowing through the back catalog. I really want to read all of the X-Men starting from roughly the 80s. I am completely unwilling to drop a few thousand dollars to do it, and so I just stopped and went back to books..

Your anti-Apple comments aside, if you live in a reasonably large urban are you can probably find at least the major X-Men books at a local library. If they don't have them, you can most likely use a state-wide transfer system to get them to your local library.

Here in Michigan it's called MeLCat. If any library in Michigan has a book/video/whatever, your library can get it. Sometimes it takes some time.

Also, even at $1/issue, every X-Men story from the 80s on would cost you a LOT more than a "few" thousand.

¿Chipotle (Grill)? Are you serious? While McDonalds has divested itself of its holdings in the chain, I can't believe there aren't any number of more worthy apps to review than one for Chipotle Grill. Even if one wants to limit the choices to "restaurants", there are dozens much better than a low end franchise that serves, at best, mediocre food at inflated prices . . .

I can't believe the Chipotle dissing. First of all, you can get a burrito bowl, shaving off some calories. The cheese and sour cream are optional. The chicken is hormone free. Chipotle is probably the healthiest fast food if you use some common sense.

Regarding eating burritos in San Franciso, take BART to Berkeley and check out Picante.

I'll be up front on this one: I'm one of those snobs who doesn't really like Chipotle. I don't hate it—I just won't go out of my way to eat there.

Vegetarian?

Or she is trying to kill herself slower than the average American. Slam a chicken burrito with sour cream and cheese down your gullet and you just scored yourself over a 1000 calories, assuming you didn't also add any other sides or a drink on top of it. Load it up, put beef in, and grab a side or two and I am pretty sure you can break 2000 calories in one sitting easily. .

The human body is more than just a heat engine, and so the measure of how food effects it is not just calories. In particular, the effect of carbohydrates on the body is very different from the effect of fat and protein, and those effects change depending on the amount of fructose involved and how tightly the carbohydrates are bound.

By mindlessly claiming that "drink" (whatever the details), sour cream, cheese, beef and "sides" are all somehow evil poisons, you are revealing that you have zero interest in the actual science of eating; your concern is with some sort of moral purity as evidenced by food. Whatever --- you're allowed whatever weird religious beliefs you want, but don't pretend that you're dispensing dispassionate correct medical advice.

Basically a person going to Chipotle and eating lots of cheese, sour cream, and meat, some beans, and as little rice as possible (and absolutely avoiding a sugary drink or potato sides) would be eating a fine meal that could well form the basis of weight-loss plan.

I'll be up front on this one: I'm one of those snobs who doesn't really like Chipotle. I don't hate it—I just won't go out of my way to eat there.

Vegetarian?

Or she is trying to kill herself slower than the average American. Slam a chicken burrito with sour cream and cheese down your gullet and you just scored yourself over a 1000 calories, assuming you didn't also add any other sides or a drink on top of it. Load it up, put beef in, and grab a side or two and I am pretty sure you can break 2000 calories in one sitting easily. .

The human body is more than just a heat engine, and so the measure of how food effects it is not just calories. In particular, the effect of carbohydrates on the body is very different from the effect of fat and protein, and those effects change depending on the amount of fructose involved and how tightly the carbohydrates are bound.

By mindlessly claiming that "drink" (whatever the details), sour cream, cheese, beef and "sides" are all somehow evil poisons, you are revealing that you have zero interest in the actual science of eating; your concern is with some sort of moral purity as evidenced by food. Whatever --- you're allowed whatever weird religious beliefs you want, but don't pretend that you're dispensing dispassionate correct medical advice.

Basically a person going to Chipotle and eating lots of cheese, sour cream, and meat, some beans, and as little rice as possible (and absolutely avoiding a sugary drink or potato sides) would be eating a fine meal that could well form the basis of weight-loss plan.

You did the EXACT same thing he just did, maybe with less vitriol. But to claim that dairy and meat minus carbs and sugar is a fine meal is just as misguided. There's plenty of evidence out there to prove you both wrong -- and right. More veggies, more fruit, more locally sourced EVERYTHING, less carbs, less sugar (especially processed), and less meat (still allowing for some of all the above) seems to be the way to go.

Yeah, the dissing of chipotle is a little strange. No, it's not fine dining or a home-cooked, farm-sourced meal. But in the realm of fast food, it's one of the healthiest And most environmentally-conscious options out there. They go for no-additive meats and locally-sourced veggies whenever possible. It's easy to get a reasonably-balanced vegetarian or vegan meal--try that at a pizza or burger joint. If you're carb-counting you can skip the rice and even the tortilla.

Given that their burritos are similar size and composition to Qdoba, I'll assume similar calories. That means that they start out more like 800 calories, though its easy to top 1200 (or 1500) if you pile on the right extras. Even then, most people have a daily calorie requirement well above that, so that is only a problem if you eat several meals a day, and they're all that size. (And if you have an active job, you might be using 3000-4000 calories, so even then it's not such a big problem.) and last I checked, research was still conflicted on whether a few big meals or lots of small meals is healthier. Plus, at least the burritos have volume roughly commensurate with their caloric content--unlike burger or fried food, eating those 1200 calories will fill you up. I can trivially down enough fried chicken or McDonald's to hit 1200 calories, or probably ice cream, too. I usually can't finish a Chipotle or Qdoba burrito in one sitting, unless I've skipped a meal.

That said, I'm torn because Chipotle is the more environmentally- and worker-conscious, but Qdoba is just so much tastier for everything except the rice.